Telephone cord take-up



Sept. 10, 1935. J. T. HELLMANN TELEPHONE CORD TAKE-UP Filed May 12, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l IIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Z INVENTOR ATTO R N EY Sept. 10, 1935.

Filed May 12, 1933 'J.T.HELLMANN TELEPHONE CORD TAKE-UP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTOR N EY Patented Sept. 10, 1935 UNITED STAT TNT OFFICE Application May 12,

4 Claims.

The object of the invention is to provide a device for use in connection with desk telephones that may be applied to a desk without the use of tools and yet retained in position thereon 6 and made to function to take up the slack leading from the box to the telephone; to provide a device of the kind indicated in which, in the installing operation, the telephone cord may be inserted without the necessity for tools to open the device; to provide a telephone cord take-up which will leave the telephone and the stand free to be shifted to any point on the desk to which it is attached; and generally to provide a device of the kind indicated which is of simple form and susceptible of cheap manufacture as compared With the different functions it is designed to carry out.

With this object in View, the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is illustrated in the accompanying drawings but to which embodiment the invention is not to be restricted. Continued use in practice may dictate certain changes or alterations and the right is claimed to make any which fall within the scope of the annexed claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a corner portion of a desk, showing the invention applied in operative position thereon.

Figure 2 is a sectional View on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view of the invention.

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the plane indicated by the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional View on the plane indicated by the line 55 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a sectional View on the plane indicated by the line 66 of Figure 3.

Figure '7 is a sectional View on the plane indicated by the line l'! of Figure 2.

Figure 8 is a detail elevational view showing the anchoring means for the receiver take-up.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the clip employed to secure the receiver cord and phone cord together.

The invention provides for take-up both of the main cord to the telephone and the cord running from the telephone to the receiver. The take-up for the telephone cord is in the form of a weight l and for the receiver cord is in the form of a weight H, the weight ill at the upper end being provided with a pivotally mounted yoke I2 in which a sheave I4 is journalled and the 1933, Serial No. 670,788

weight H being similarly provided with a yoke 55 in which a sheave I6 is journalled. The weight I! is of less mass than the weight II] but both weights are enclosed by a housing I! which is of cross-sectionally channel or U-shaped form,,, so that when it is attached to the base member l8 the two may combine to form a tubular member in which the Weights rise and fall, as pull is applied or released on the telephone cord l 9 or on the receiver take-up cord 20. The hous-' 10 ing member H, on opposite sides and at the lower end is provided with studs 2| which seat in openings in ears 22 formed at the bottom of the base plate. It is retained in position on the base plate at the top by means of a latch member 23 which it carries and which engages in the seat consisting of a slot formed in one of the edges of the head plate 24 which is secured to the base at the upper end of the latter and in right-angular position to one base and constitutes a top closure for the tubular member which the housing and base member jointly form.

The base member is made preferably of flat stock and at opposite edges is curled as indicated at 25 to provide tubular guides in which 25 may be disposed the cross-sectionally circular shanks 25 of gripping jaws 21, formed on their upper faces with spurs 28. The shanks 26 of the gripping jaws are connected totension springs 29 which are also housed in the tubular guides. but which are anchored to the base l8 by having their terminal convolutions 30 formed into hooks for engagement with the openings 3| formed in the web portion of the base between the two tubular guides. The openings 3| are formed in pairs of which one opening is adjacent each tubular guide, the openings constituting each pair being at difierent levels, so that different points of anchorage of the springs may be provided and thus not only increase the tension on the springs in effecting the clamping operation, but also to change the zone of operation of the jaws which cooperate with plain jaw members 32 formed as lateral extensions of upright arms 33 connected with the base at the head 45 plate 24 and extending in the same plane as the base. The jaws 22 and 21 constitute the means for removably attaching the device to a desk, such as indicated at 38, where the jaws 32, whose desk gripping faces are cushioned as indicated at 35 may engage the upper face of the desk top, with the spurs of the jaws 21 engaging the desk on the bottom. The device is attached by placing the jaws below the desk and pulling upward on the housing to stretch the springs 29, until the jaws 32 may be moved over the top face of the desk. A lug 36 struck from the housing abuts the top plate 34 on the under face and thus precludes movement of the housing with respect to the base in efiecting the upward pull of the device in making the desk attaching operation.

A sheave block 3? has a swivel mounting on the top plate 24, this sheave block carrying the sheaves 38 and 39 disposed one above the other with a web'portion 4i intervening between the two. A hollow stem M is formed on the bottom of the block 31 and enters a sleeve 42 which is mounted in the top plate, being preferably screwed in the latter as indicated at 43. Both the stem 4| and sleeve 42 are formed with longitudinal.

slots 44 and 45, the latter opening'through the edge of the top plate 24, and the stem at the lower end is formed with the radially extending lug 46 which is disposed adjacent the lower end of the sleeve 42 and thus prevents the sheave block from being dismounted, unless the block be turned to a position where the lug will be in line with the slot 45, when the block may be lifted out of its position on the device.

The swivel mounting of the block provides for its swingingwhen the telephone, such as indicated at 47, is shifted toward the back or toward the front of the desk 34.

The block 37 is slotted on one side as shown at 48 and 49, these slots being formed in continuation of the slot 45 in the stem and being arranged to follow the contour respectively of the sheaves 38 and 39.

The weights l8 and ll may be disconnected from their respective yokes l2 and I5 by reason of the releasable pin and slot connections 5!] provided. This so that the telephone cord l9 and take-up cord 20 may be trained over their relaterally through the registering slots and through the slot 48 to lie in the groove of the sheave 38. The cord I9 is drawn substantially taut over the lug 52 and, as the telephone 4! is shifted to different points on the desk, the telephone cord I9 is extended from the housing or returned to the latter, depending on whether the telephone is moved on the desk toward or away from the housing. The weight serves'as an effective take-up to prevent tangling of the cord.

The receiver take-up cord 28 is terminally anchored, as indicated at 53, to the top plate 24 and is trained over the sheave H5 and sheave 39 in the block 31', being mounted on its respective sheaves in the same way that the telephone cord 19 was applied to its sheave. After the receiver cord 54 has had its useless length wrapped around the telephone stand, as indicated at 55, so as to only leave sufiicient for the receiver to be placed to'the ear of the user, it is secured to the telephone cord H] by means of a clip 56, while the receiver take-up cord Ed is anchored to'the receiver cord by means. of an appropriate clip and connection, such as indicated at 5?. The weight H then applies a pull to the receiver cord which will prevent that from becoming tangled but which will permit the receiver cord to be drawn out in a substantially straight line, as when the receiver is placed to the ear of the user.

The invention having been described, what is claimed as new and useful is: 5

1. A telephone cord take-up comprising a tubular housing, a weight carried in said housing,

a top plate defining the upper end of the housing,

a block having a sheave therein, a sleeve mounted in the top plate, a hollow stem carried by the 10 block and rotatably mounted in said sleeve, and

a sheave carried by said weight, the stem and sleeve and top plate being formed with lateral registerable slots of which that in the top plate opens on the edge thereof, so that a telephone cord 15 may be passed to the interior of the stem and. the block being slotted in continuation of the slot in the stem and in the general direction of the periphery of its sheave to permit the application of a telephone cord to the periphery of the sheave, 20 the weight being detachably connected with its sheave to permit the training of the telephone cord over the latter.

2. A device for the purpose indicated comprising a take-up weight enclosing member embody-C 25 ing a rectangular fiat plate curled at opposite longitudinal edges, a housing member removably attached to said plate, desk engaging jaws carried at one end of said plate, movable jaws having stems laid in the curled portions of said platej-EBO and springs disposed in the curled portions of said plate and terminally anchored to the latter and to the jaw stems to releasably retain the movable jaws in engagement with the bottom of a desk when the first said jaws are engaged withthetop of the desk.

3. A device for the purpose indicatedcomprising a base member having a right-angularly projecting plate at its upper end, a cross-sectionally U-shaped member detachably connected with the lO base member to constitute a tubular housing closed at the upper end by the plate, said U- shaped member embracing the plate at the edges,

a block having a sheave rotatably mounted therein, said block being formed with a hollow stem,"4 5 a sleeve fixedly mounted in the plate and formed with a slot throughout its length, the plate member being slotted through to its edge in continuation of the slot in the sleeve, the stem of the block entering said sleeve and being formed with a lateral slot registerable with the slot in the sleeve, the block being slotted in continuation of the slot in the stem and in the general direction of the periphery of the sheave, and a weight within the housing formed by the channel member 5 and the base and having a sheave over which a telephone cord is trained, the slots in the block, the stem and the sleeve providing for the admission of the telephone cord onto the block-carried sheave to move through the stem, so that the'-60 weight may take up slack in any movement of the telephone to which the cord is attached.

4. A device for the purpose indicated comprising a base member having a right-angularly projecting plate at its upper end, a cross-sectionally U-shaped member detachably connected with the base member to constitute a tubular housing closed at the upper end by the plate, said U- shaped member embracing the plate atthe edges, ablock having a sheave rotatably mounted there-' in, said block being formed with a hollow stem, a sleeve fixedly mounted in the plate and formed with a slot throughout its length, the plate member being slotted through to its edge in continuation of the slot in the sleeve, the stem of the" block entering said sleeve and being formed with a lateral slot registerable with the slot in the sleeve, the block being slotted in continuation of the slot in the stem and in the general direction of the periphery of the sheave, a weight Within the housing formed by the channel member and the base and having a sheave over which a telephone cord is trained, the slots in the block, the stem and the sleeve providing for the admission of the telephone cord onto the block-carried sheave to move through the stem, so that the weight may take up slack in any movement of the telephone to which the cord is attached, and 2. lug carried by the base member just below the right-angularly arranged plate to provide an anchoring means for the telephone cord at its point of entrance to the housing.

JAY T. HELLMANN 

